Staff recruitment is the focus for hospitals in the Shannonside region to cope with the anticipated winter surge.
It comes as emergency departments around the country struggle to cope with rising patients numbers.
The HSE winter plan sets out how hospitals plan to deal with the expected surge in the number of patients attending emergency departments over the course of the winter.
Individual hospitals have now set out what steps they are taking to deal with it.
Roscommon University Hospital is planning to recruit an Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Senior Speech and Language Therapist, 2 Community Healthcare assistants to assist with a pilot older persons program, as well as an additional Clinical Pharmacist and Consultant Radiologist.
Sligo University Hospital, which has been among the worst affected hospitals in the country for trolley numbers, is also focusing on recruiting new staff. Among these would be an expansion of the Frailty Intervention team to allow for a seven day service including an Occupational Therapist, Speech & Language Therapist, one Senior Social Worker and one Clinical Nurse Specialist. Also in the plans are a GP liason nurse, radiographers, patient flow coordinator, and 3 additional emergency medicine consultants.
Portiuncula Hospital is also planning to recruit 2 additional healthcare assistants So help with discharging patients on time, as well as a Clinical Nurse Manager and Senior Pharmacist for the emergency department to address admission avoidance and waiting times for patients.
All hospitals have also stated they will provide an enhancement of GP access to Diagnostics and Out Of Hours Services to ease pressure on emergency departments.
